Post by kungfugrip on Aug 9, 2005 16:08:29 GMT
So BTC Presents is once again on the horizon. No doubt the excitement and panic is building among the team as the days pass by.
Most of you will know that one of the bands playing this year is Fuel………
REWIND 9 YEARS
So I’m booking bands for the first year of Black Tie White Noise 1996. I’m leaving no stone unturned in my search for local bands who will play for very little money or for free if at all possible. All contacts and leads were followed up in this relentless pursuit. One of my ideas was to phone my friend Aaron who I’d met at Millisle CSSM three years earlier. He’d mentioned that he was in a band and that they were pretty good. I phoned him and asked him to do the gig. After his initial response that in fact ‘we’re not that good’, I begged him to do it. He agreed and ‘Fool’s Paradise’ were booked. I didn’t know what to expect but I was hopeful…..
I got a very young band from Belfast (most of them were about 16) who were very enthusiastic. So much so that they were down at the seafront around Bangor on a Saturday night giving out flyers not just for their night but for the event as a whole. They shifted every flyer too and couldn’t wait for the gig.
Fool’s Paradise played both the Friday and Saturday nights at BTWN. It was their first ever gig. Most of the set contained cover versions and there were a few dodgy notes here and there. One or two songs even had to be started again. But they blew every other act away that week. I wasn’t exactly a musical expert back then, but I knew Fool’s Paradise had something very special. Most other people in the hall also realised they’d seen a young band with a lot of promise – real promise. They were very loud – too loud for some who dismissed them simply as just another punk or heavy metal act. How wrong and further from the truth could those muppets have been. They were not LISTENING.
BTWN 1997 eventually arrived. We had waited so long to hear the band again. Fool’s Paradise had added a new member to the band – Dave Magee on lead guitar. On drums was Peter Comfort, on bass and vocals Aaron and on rhythm guitar and backing vocals Nathan Connolly. Whilst the year before they were slightly tentative (it was after all their first ever gig), this year they were much more confident on stage. Aided by eyeliner and haircolouring they oozed self-belief. They sent out a vibe which clearly told the audience that ‘we are absolutely loving every minute of this’. The vibe from the crowd was ‘so are we!’ As a result that gig really established a firm rapport with the Bangor crowd. First Bangor’s first ever mosh pit was born that night.
Peter’s drumming was breathtaking. His quick hands made for powerful drumming with impossible fills that would make you dribble in awe Homer style. The icing on the cake was his ability to sing backing vocals and banter with the crowd. Dave was very talented on guitar and brought a lot of new musical possiblities to the band. Intense riffs and chugging power chords were his speciality. The fact that he looked like a member of Hanson (a boy band of the time) was a minor flaw everyone was willing to overlook. Nathan was the good looking one. With his wide stance and guitar as low as possible, Nathan was cool and he knew he was. “I’m going to make it he confidently declared”. I believed him. Aaron was the mouthpiece of the band. Again the bass guitar was slung low which was very much a Fuel trademark right from the start. Ultimately, he was the central presence both on and off stage that made things tick.
The next few gigs in the likes of Bangor Grammar and Bangor Tech were stepping stones to playing a gig in Belfast as soon as possible. When Fuel plugged in and started to play, heads turned and mouths occasionally fell open – I kid you not. They demanded your attention and they kept your attention until the very end of the last song. They also had the gift of always making the crowd want more but kept them keen by rarely doing an encore.
Fools Paradise became ‘Fuel’ late 1997 to early 1998 and it seemed to signal their intent of maturing as a band. Their songwriting developed drawing on their wide ranging influences from the Wildhearts, Manics, Pixies, Pumpkins, Therapy, Machine Head and even U2 to name only a few. As the months passed they gradually started to move away from their punk beginnings. New songs seemed to appear naturally when the band were at their creative best in Pete’s garage. Quite often one member of the band would come with an idea that would be worked up into a belter of a track in no time at all. On other occasions good songs just came about by accident as the four of them played on instinct.
As the band started to play in Belfast venues the full power of the band became more apparent. The first couple of years they had played through PA systems which weren’t that great. But the Belfast venues had some good gear and with some better sound mixing Fuel were sounding HUGE. Their confidence also grew with every gig and no matter where they played, they didn’t just take the stage, they owned it.
A great example of this was in Lavery’s back bar, Belfast. Just 10 minutes into the set a punk with hair spiked 12 inches straight up came into the overcrowded bar and shuffled up near the band to try and cause trouble or to put them off their stride. He only stood about a foot and a half from Aaron on the other side of the mic waiting for Aaron to back down. But Aaron wasn’t for backing down. The song continued at a furious pace and Aaron, fair play to him, loomed large, continued singing right into the punk’s face and stared the punk out. The punk realised he’d lost, turned and shuffled his way back out of the bar.
Fuel’s name began to get about. It took them two years from their first gig to get any tracks recorded however. Looking back, I really can’t remember why it took so long. As soon as the tape ‘Bigger Generation’ (5 track EP) was out and about, Fuel were played on Radio One in no time at all. More Belfast gigs followed, several of which achieved legendary status. Laverys, The Front Page, Katy Dalys, Morrisons and The Duke of York witnessed some of these, the latter with Aaron playing the final song standing on a table occupied by some punters. Fuel still found time however to play venues such as Lurgan YMCA and the Exodus club in Coleraine, even though most of the band were officially barred from Exodus after an ‘incident’ while playing in the Mark McAllister Band a short time before.
By mid 1999 Fuel were being played regularly on Radio One and Radio Ulster. Their Black Tie White Noise gig that year was eagerly anticipated (as always) with a sellout crowd waiting to mosh. Extra security was needed along the front of the stage in the upstairs hall that night. Excuse the cliché but the atmosphere really was electric and indeed, as Dave’s dad remarked looking towards Fuel on stage, ‘you could charge a battery up there!’
Before long there was interest from Brightstar Records which saw the band establish a working relationship which promised much. As a result Fuel were managed by Colin Murray (now of Radio One’s afternoon show) who worked with Brightstar. Some of the songs were polished and re-worked while several mainstays of the set deemed not up to standard disappeared without trace. They headlined Radio One’s United Nations gig in Derry which was featured on Steve Lamacq’s show. Next a photoshoot, then driven by Radio Ulster to Windmill Studios (of U2 Fame) in Dublin to record tracks specially for the BBC. Rumours abounded that Fuel, like their predecessors ‘co.uk’, had signed a tidy record deal with Brightstar. This wasn’t the case but they did continue to back the band.
Black Tie White Noise 2000 saw Fuel give their most accomplished show yet at the venue. They had also brought Radio One with them to cover the event. It was a blistering set that barely paused for breath. What a night, what a show......the crowed lapped it up one last time.
With the help of Brightstar the band had their first single with double A side ‘Closure/Dry Form’. For a time Fuel or ‘fileundereasylistening’ as they were also known, were in every paper and were reviewed in the likes of Kerrang, ‘definitely ones to watch in the coming months’ and Hot Press, ‘they make you smile – tight, hook happy and explosive’. The Irish Times stated that it was the ‘best single of the year so far’. The excitement grew when it was announced that Fuel would be supporting Ash along with Snow Patrol on their Irish tour in December 2000. This tour took in cities such as Dublin, Cork and Limerick and saw Fuel travelling in style on Motorhead’s tourbus. It seemed the only way was up. Nothing could stop what we all knew – Fuel were ready to fight it out with the big boys. Stardom beckoned. It was only a matter of months away………
But for all the promise, the ride that had been so exciting started to slow down. Brightstar’s initial support gradually cooled and with Aaron now living in England it made writing new material and playing gigs less than simple. The band had gone into the studio however with the help of Brightstar and recorded the guts of an album in about March 2001. However, that work in the studio was to be Peter’s last contribution with the band. Peter decided it was time to leave. He left a huge hole in the band, and not just musically.
It was a hammer blow, but the band vowed to continue and not lose the momentum that they’d built up. Big Ian was recruited on drums and got up to speed quickly. Brightstar wanted someone to take over from Colin to manage the band and yours truly obliged. The band played quite a lot over the summer of 2001, the Waterfront Hall in Belfast and Cuba, Galway stick out in the mind. The band turned down making a TV programme on Channel 4 about new bands on the principle that they were not, in fact, a new band. It was felt the programme could do more harm than good and we said thanks, but no thanks to Channel 4.
By early October 2001 Fuel had played every bar in Belfast over and over again. It was like being on a roundabout that just kept turning. There was nowhere left to go. It was time to get off. The band played their last gig in the Empire mid October 2001 at the ‘Belfest’ event. A very sad night which even culminated in Nathan getting his guitar nicked backstage. The adventure was over. It was unthinkable, yet completely true. Fuel were no more.
PRESENT DAY
The local music industry has missed Fuel. No band has since measured up. So what a night we have in store. They’ve been away for years. Will they be as good as before? Who cares whether they are or not – one thing is sure – it’s going to be a lot of fun both for us and for them. It is fitting that it is taking place not in a bigger venue in their native Belfast, but in a church hall in Bangor where it all started nine years ago. I can't wait. Welcome home boys. We’ve missed you.
SK
xoxox
Think Black Wear Black
Most of you will know that one of the bands playing this year is Fuel………
REWIND 9 YEARS
So I’m booking bands for the first year of Black Tie White Noise 1996. I’m leaving no stone unturned in my search for local bands who will play for very little money or for free if at all possible. All contacts and leads were followed up in this relentless pursuit. One of my ideas was to phone my friend Aaron who I’d met at Millisle CSSM three years earlier. He’d mentioned that he was in a band and that they were pretty good. I phoned him and asked him to do the gig. After his initial response that in fact ‘we’re not that good’, I begged him to do it. He agreed and ‘Fool’s Paradise’ were booked. I didn’t know what to expect but I was hopeful…..
I got a very young band from Belfast (most of them were about 16) who were very enthusiastic. So much so that they were down at the seafront around Bangor on a Saturday night giving out flyers not just for their night but for the event as a whole. They shifted every flyer too and couldn’t wait for the gig.
Fool’s Paradise played both the Friday and Saturday nights at BTWN. It was their first ever gig. Most of the set contained cover versions and there were a few dodgy notes here and there. One or two songs even had to be started again. But they blew every other act away that week. I wasn’t exactly a musical expert back then, but I knew Fool’s Paradise had something very special. Most other people in the hall also realised they’d seen a young band with a lot of promise – real promise. They were very loud – too loud for some who dismissed them simply as just another punk or heavy metal act. How wrong and further from the truth could those muppets have been. They were not LISTENING.
BTWN 1997 eventually arrived. We had waited so long to hear the band again. Fool’s Paradise had added a new member to the band – Dave Magee on lead guitar. On drums was Peter Comfort, on bass and vocals Aaron and on rhythm guitar and backing vocals Nathan Connolly. Whilst the year before they were slightly tentative (it was after all their first ever gig), this year they were much more confident on stage. Aided by eyeliner and haircolouring they oozed self-belief. They sent out a vibe which clearly told the audience that ‘we are absolutely loving every minute of this’. The vibe from the crowd was ‘so are we!’ As a result that gig really established a firm rapport with the Bangor crowd. First Bangor’s first ever mosh pit was born that night.
Peter’s drumming was breathtaking. His quick hands made for powerful drumming with impossible fills that would make you dribble in awe Homer style. The icing on the cake was his ability to sing backing vocals and banter with the crowd. Dave was very talented on guitar and brought a lot of new musical possiblities to the band. Intense riffs and chugging power chords were his speciality. The fact that he looked like a member of Hanson (a boy band of the time) was a minor flaw everyone was willing to overlook. Nathan was the good looking one. With his wide stance and guitar as low as possible, Nathan was cool and he knew he was. “I’m going to make it he confidently declared”. I believed him. Aaron was the mouthpiece of the band. Again the bass guitar was slung low which was very much a Fuel trademark right from the start. Ultimately, he was the central presence both on and off stage that made things tick.
The next few gigs in the likes of Bangor Grammar and Bangor Tech were stepping stones to playing a gig in Belfast as soon as possible. When Fuel plugged in and started to play, heads turned and mouths occasionally fell open – I kid you not. They demanded your attention and they kept your attention until the very end of the last song. They also had the gift of always making the crowd want more but kept them keen by rarely doing an encore.
Fools Paradise became ‘Fuel’ late 1997 to early 1998 and it seemed to signal their intent of maturing as a band. Their songwriting developed drawing on their wide ranging influences from the Wildhearts, Manics, Pixies, Pumpkins, Therapy, Machine Head and even U2 to name only a few. As the months passed they gradually started to move away from their punk beginnings. New songs seemed to appear naturally when the band were at their creative best in Pete’s garage. Quite often one member of the band would come with an idea that would be worked up into a belter of a track in no time at all. On other occasions good songs just came about by accident as the four of them played on instinct.
As the band started to play in Belfast venues the full power of the band became more apparent. The first couple of years they had played through PA systems which weren’t that great. But the Belfast venues had some good gear and with some better sound mixing Fuel were sounding HUGE. Their confidence also grew with every gig and no matter where they played, they didn’t just take the stage, they owned it.
A great example of this was in Lavery’s back bar, Belfast. Just 10 minutes into the set a punk with hair spiked 12 inches straight up came into the overcrowded bar and shuffled up near the band to try and cause trouble or to put them off their stride. He only stood about a foot and a half from Aaron on the other side of the mic waiting for Aaron to back down. But Aaron wasn’t for backing down. The song continued at a furious pace and Aaron, fair play to him, loomed large, continued singing right into the punk’s face and stared the punk out. The punk realised he’d lost, turned and shuffled his way back out of the bar.
Fuel’s name began to get about. It took them two years from their first gig to get any tracks recorded however. Looking back, I really can’t remember why it took so long. As soon as the tape ‘Bigger Generation’ (5 track EP) was out and about, Fuel were played on Radio One in no time at all. More Belfast gigs followed, several of which achieved legendary status. Laverys, The Front Page, Katy Dalys, Morrisons and The Duke of York witnessed some of these, the latter with Aaron playing the final song standing on a table occupied by some punters. Fuel still found time however to play venues such as Lurgan YMCA and the Exodus club in Coleraine, even though most of the band were officially barred from Exodus after an ‘incident’ while playing in the Mark McAllister Band a short time before.
By mid 1999 Fuel were being played regularly on Radio One and Radio Ulster. Their Black Tie White Noise gig that year was eagerly anticipated (as always) with a sellout crowd waiting to mosh. Extra security was needed along the front of the stage in the upstairs hall that night. Excuse the cliché but the atmosphere really was electric and indeed, as Dave’s dad remarked looking towards Fuel on stage, ‘you could charge a battery up there!’
Before long there was interest from Brightstar Records which saw the band establish a working relationship which promised much. As a result Fuel were managed by Colin Murray (now of Radio One’s afternoon show) who worked with Brightstar. Some of the songs were polished and re-worked while several mainstays of the set deemed not up to standard disappeared without trace. They headlined Radio One’s United Nations gig in Derry which was featured on Steve Lamacq’s show. Next a photoshoot, then driven by Radio Ulster to Windmill Studios (of U2 Fame) in Dublin to record tracks specially for the BBC. Rumours abounded that Fuel, like their predecessors ‘co.uk’, had signed a tidy record deal with Brightstar. This wasn’t the case but they did continue to back the band.
Black Tie White Noise 2000 saw Fuel give their most accomplished show yet at the venue. They had also brought Radio One with them to cover the event. It was a blistering set that barely paused for breath. What a night, what a show......the crowed lapped it up one last time.
With the help of Brightstar the band had their first single with double A side ‘Closure/Dry Form’. For a time Fuel or ‘fileundereasylistening’ as they were also known, were in every paper and were reviewed in the likes of Kerrang, ‘definitely ones to watch in the coming months’ and Hot Press, ‘they make you smile – tight, hook happy and explosive’. The Irish Times stated that it was the ‘best single of the year so far’. The excitement grew when it was announced that Fuel would be supporting Ash along with Snow Patrol on their Irish tour in December 2000. This tour took in cities such as Dublin, Cork and Limerick and saw Fuel travelling in style on Motorhead’s tourbus. It seemed the only way was up. Nothing could stop what we all knew – Fuel were ready to fight it out with the big boys. Stardom beckoned. It was only a matter of months away………
But for all the promise, the ride that had been so exciting started to slow down. Brightstar’s initial support gradually cooled and with Aaron now living in England it made writing new material and playing gigs less than simple. The band had gone into the studio however with the help of Brightstar and recorded the guts of an album in about March 2001. However, that work in the studio was to be Peter’s last contribution with the band. Peter decided it was time to leave. He left a huge hole in the band, and not just musically.
It was a hammer blow, but the band vowed to continue and not lose the momentum that they’d built up. Big Ian was recruited on drums and got up to speed quickly. Brightstar wanted someone to take over from Colin to manage the band and yours truly obliged. The band played quite a lot over the summer of 2001, the Waterfront Hall in Belfast and Cuba, Galway stick out in the mind. The band turned down making a TV programme on Channel 4 about new bands on the principle that they were not, in fact, a new band. It was felt the programme could do more harm than good and we said thanks, but no thanks to Channel 4.
By early October 2001 Fuel had played every bar in Belfast over and over again. It was like being on a roundabout that just kept turning. There was nowhere left to go. It was time to get off. The band played their last gig in the Empire mid October 2001 at the ‘Belfest’ event. A very sad night which even culminated in Nathan getting his guitar nicked backstage. The adventure was over. It was unthinkable, yet completely true. Fuel were no more.
PRESENT DAY
The local music industry has missed Fuel. No band has since measured up. So what a night we have in store. They’ve been away for years. Will they be as good as before? Who cares whether they are or not – one thing is sure – it’s going to be a lot of fun both for us and for them. It is fitting that it is taking place not in a bigger venue in their native Belfast, but in a church hall in Bangor where it all started nine years ago. I can't wait. Welcome home boys. We’ve missed you.
SK
xoxox
Think Black Wear Black
